Tigers tamed by Toulouse

Toulouse triumphed 22-11 in the critical Pool Six clash against Leicester - leaving the Tigers' European hopes hanging by a thread.

The meeting of the Heineken Cup heavyweights went the way of the French side thanks to tries from Clément Poitrenaud and Vincent Clerc.

Tom Varndell managed a solitary score for the visitors, who have now lost twice on their travels in the competition this year and are in danger of suffering an early exit.

The two teams had fought to a standstill at a muddy Welford Road last weekend, Leicester reigning in the rain by a 14-9 margin.

Back on home turf and with the sun on their backs, Toulouse looked eager to exact swift revenge and take full control of a group that also includes Leinster and Edinburgh.

Tight defence

From the opening kick-off they surged forward and within three minutes they were on the scoreboard, though the Tigers defence proved a difficult one to break down.

They were breached once in the opening half, Poitrenaud diving over on the right to finish off an excellent set move off the back of line-out ball on their opponents' 22.

The full-back's score was a swift riposte after Leicester had stunned the vocal home crowd with a fine try against the run of play.

After dropping the ball within sight of the line just a minute earlier, winger Tom Varndell made no mistake second time around, getting over on the right flank to give his side their one and only lead of the afternoon.

The only other points Leicester managed before the break came from the boot of Andy Goode, but they remained in touch thanks to Toulouse's desire to go for drop goals rather than remain patient with the ball in hand.

Courrent set the tone with a successful effort to break the deadlock, though he was not so good with his second attempt soon after, while Jean-Baptiste Elissalde was also keen to try his luck.

The scrum-half slotted over one drop goal to pick up some points from an attack that had seen only a desperate diving tap tackle from Lewis Moody stop Yannick Jauzion from scoring.

Elissalde was also on target with a penalty with the last kick of the half, giving the hosts a hard-fought 14-8 advantage at the interval.

Florian Fritz's blatant body check on the recalled Geordan Murphy allowed Goode to cut the deficit to three, though that was as close as Leicester got in the second half.

Crucial try

With their defensive efforts beginning to tell, Leicester leaked a second try as French international Clerc held off the sizeable presence of Seru Rebeni to dive over on the right.

The winger's strong finish, which followed on from good work by Jauzion and William Servat, seemed to knock the stuffing out of Leicester.

A collapsed scrum allowed Elissalde to kick the 2005 champions further ahead and, crucially, push the Tigers out of range of the losing bonus point they so badly needed.

Although they tried hard to find a late score it was to no avail, meaning Marcelo Loffreda's men now sit five points adrift of Toulouse and are needing a near-miracle to reach the knockout stages.